Sectional glass lined container



' p 1957 A. v. OSBORNE ETAL 2,806,629

sETIoNAL GLASS LINED CONTAINER File d Aug. 26, 1955 mum/T0115. I ALEC V088 RNE H G. 4 By 4110 QRSOIV J BRIT TON THEIR ATTORNEY nite Sttes sncrroNAt crass LINED CONTAINER Alec V. Osborne, Brighton, and Orson]. Britton, Pittsford, N. Y., assignors to The Pfaudler Co., Rochester, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application August 26, 1955, Serial No. 530,805

3 Claims. (Cl. 22064) This invention relates to glass or vitreous enamel lined containers and more particularly to containers of this nature comprising prefabricated sections which are adapted for assembly in the field, one object of this in vention being the provision of a practical container of this description.

It is often desired to provide equipment comprising large glass lined containers and the like for the production, handling, or storage of materials for the food, chemical and drug industries. However, the provision of large containers of this description entails considerable difficulty and expense in the manufacture, shipping and installation thereof. For this reason, another purpose of this invention is to provide a glass lined container that may be manufactured and shipped in sections, and easily and conveniently assembled in the field.

Sectional glass lined containers have hereto-fore been rendered fluid-tight by means of gaskets, caulking, and plastic compounds for sealing the joints between adjacent sections. These sealing means have been commonly troublesome and unsatisfactory due to the development of leaks and the required maintenance and periodic replacement of gaskets or other sealing means. For this reason, a further object of this invention is the provision of a sectional glass lined container having joints which may be permanently welded in the field, and which do not require further attention or maintenance.

Further objects of this invention include the provision of sectional glass lined containers of the above description which may be readily assembled from standardized parts to accomplish a variety of purposes.

To these and other ends the invention resides in certain improvements and combinations of parts, all as will be hereinafter more fully described, the novel features being pointed out in the claims at the end of the speci' fication.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a container embodying this invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary cross sectional view taken substantially along line 22 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary cross sectional view taken substantially along line 33 in Fig. l, and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary cross sectional view of a joint between adjacent panels lying in a flat plane.

A container embodying this invention and herein disclosed for purposes of illustration preferably comprises a plurality of prefabricated metal panels or units, asset bled and fastened together as hereinafter described. Side panels 19, end panels 11, and a bottom panel 12. may be assembled as shown in Fig. 1 to form a rectangular vat or tank. Side panels it) are provided with outwardly turned end flanges 14 and a top flange 16, and end panels 11 are provided with an outwardly turned top flange i8. Botton panel 12 (Fig. 3) is provided with depending flange portions 20. All of the above panels or flanges are pierced with bolt holes to facilitate assembly into a completed unit. Each of the above described panels may be reenforced and stiffened by braces, ribs or other suitable ice members if required, in order to produce a rigid structural unit.

A strip of non-corrosive alloy 22 is fastend to the edge or abutting portion of each of the above panels in a position to abut a similar strip fastened to the neighboring panel, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. Alloy strips 22 may be fastened to the base metal by any convenient method such as the plurality of spot welds 24, illustrated in the figures. A line of fillet welding 26 is laid along the inner edges of the alloy strips in order to provide a smooth and continuous surface with the interior surface of the panel.

The entire inner surfaces of all the above panels are then coated with a layer of fused glass or vitreous enamel 28, with the enamel coating covering the entire exposed area of the base metal and extending over the above mentionedfillet Welds and partially covering the surface of the corrosion resistant alloy strips 22, leaving the outer portion of the alloy strips exposed.

When the container is assembled in the field, the various panel portions are fastened together by means of bolts 30 extending through the holes of the flanges as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. It has been found practical to fasten the panels together by means of bolting since there is no danger of injury to the glass or vitreous enamel lining involved in this method. However, it is contemplated that the panels could be fastened together by welding, clamping or any other means which may be used without injury to the lining. By the use of this method of assembly, completed containers of various sizes may be constructed from a plurality of the above described prefabricated panels.

After the panels have been rigidly and permanently fastened together by any of the methods described above, the abutting edges of adjacent corrosion resistant alloy strips 22 are sealed by welding with a non-corrosive welding metal preferably having a composition the same as, or similar to the strips themselves. These welds 32 may then later be ground smooth if desired. This results in the production of a continuous corrosion resistant alloy joint between adjacent glass coated panels, which, in combination with said panels, constitutes a continuous corrosion resistant and sanitary lining on the interior surface of the container.

While it is preferable to attach the non-corrosive strip by welding as described above, it is contemplated that a non-corrosive edge may be applied to the base metal panels by any other known and suitable means such as plating, spraying, dipping or the like. The exact method is unimportant as long as sufiicient metal is applied to form a non-corrosive welding surface.

In this construction, all joints are sealed by welding and are therefore permanently fiuidtight, and no gaskets or other sealing devices need be resorted to. Thus, this invention provides corrosion resistant tanks effectively embodying a one-piece, continuous, corrosion resistant lining.

Since the containers manufactured according to this invention are built up in the field of relatively small prefabricated panels, tanks of any desired size may be as sembled at the point of use. All of the difiiculties heretofore encountered in the manufacture, shipping, and installation of large, one-piece glass or vitreous lined containers are circumvented. The prefabricated panels are in themselves small enough to be economically manufactured and shipped, and any practical number of such panels may be used to form containers of various sizes, which may be assembled at the point of use. At the same time, a tank embodying this invention possesses all the advantages of one-piece glass lined tanks, in that the interior surface, when welded as described above, is seamless, and exposes only corrosion resistant alloy metal and fused vitreous enamel to the contents of the tank.

Further advantages flowing from this invention include the flexibility of design afforded by the use of standard prefabricated panels or sections in various shapes which will allow the assembly of a wide range of sizes and shapes of containers requiredfor particular installations. 'Thus, the user can in effect design a tank precisely suited to his requirements while retaining the economy inherent in the mass production of standard units as set forth in this invention.

While this invention has herein been described in terms of relatively small rectangular vats it is by no means limited thereto. It is contemplated that,within the scope of this invention, sections other than plane rectangular shape may be utilized, and that curved, cylindrical or spherical vitreous enamel coated sections having partially covered corrosion resistant alloy strips may be used for building up containers and chemical process apparatus of substantially any desired shape, size or configuration.

It will thus be seen that the invention accomplishes its objects and while it has been herein disclosed by reference to the details of a preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that such disclosure is intended in an illustrative, rather than a limiting sense, as it is contemplated that various modifications in the construction and arrangement of the parts will readily occur to those skilled in the art, within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A corrosion resistant container comprising a plurality of metallic wall members having marginal edge portions of the inner faces thereof coated with corrosion resistant metal and a vitreous enamel coating on the said 4;, inner faces of said members partially overlapping the corrosion resistant metal coating on said faces, with the corrosion resistant coatings of the edge portions of adjacent members welded together to form a continuous corrosion resistant surface in said container.

2. A corrosion resistant container comprising a plurality of flanged metallic plate wall members having marginal edge portions of the inner faces thereof coated with corrosion resistant metal and a vitreous enamel coating on the said inner faces of said'members partially overlapping the corrosion resistant metal coating on said faces, with the flanges of adjacent plate members bolted together and the corrosion resistant coatings of the edge portions of adjacent plate members welded together to form a container having continuous corrosion resistant wall surfaces.

3. A rectangular corrosion resistant vat comprising a plurality of flanged metallic. plate wall members having marginal edge portions of the inner faces thereof coated with corrosion resistant metal and a vitreous enamel coating on the said inner faces of said members partially overlapping the corrosion resistant metal coating on said faces, with the flanges of adjacent plate members bolted to gether and the corrosion resistant coatings of the edge portions of adjacent plate members welded together to form a vat having continuous corrosion resistant wall surfaces.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

